Doctor Plans New Apartment Building for Gowanus

GOWANUS — A doctor is betting that Gowanus real estate is a healthy investment.

Pediatrician Michel Cohen, founder of Tribeca Pediatrics, recently filed plans to build a six-story apartment building on an empty lot on Carroll Street, according to city records. The new building is slated for 454 Carroll St., between Third Avenue and Nevins Street.

Cohen also owns 458 Carroll St., and 456 Carroll, a newly renovated apartment building. The three-unit building, billed as a "live/work townhouse," in a Corcoran real estate listing, has a four-bedroom apartment that recently rented for $6,750, a decrease from the original asking price of $11,000, according to StreetEasy.

Cohen also has plans to construct a "beautiful single-family home" at 463 Carroll St., another building he recently purchased on the block, he told DNAinfo.

Cohen said he's "tried to [construct buildings] there that are different and aesthetically pleasing as I love the neighborhood and the street."

The 4,500 square-foot lot at 454 Carroll St. is currently zoned for manufacturing, but Cohen said he's hoping to get a variance to construct a residential building

Cohen told New York Magazine in 2011 that Gowanus was "a little village," that reminded him of how Tribeca was 20 years ago.

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